Bush's speech at Jamestown: Parallels between colony and Middle East

JAMESTOWN, Va. -- President Bush marked the 400th anniversary of Jamestown's founding Sunday by praising colonists' indomitable spirit in the face of disaster and holding up the English settlement as a milestone on the path toward building American democracy.

"The story of Jamestown will always have a special place in American history," said Bush, whose speech capped a three-day commemoration. "It's the story of a great migration from the Old World to the New. It is a story of hardship overcome by resolve. It's a story of the Tidewater settlement that laid the foundation of our great democracy."

Bush said the United States should use the occasion to renew its commitment to expanding liberty in the world, and he drew parallels between the nearly hopeless condition of the settlement's first days and current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.